Battle of the Mimbres River

Part of the Apache Wars

An Apache Warrior by William F. Farny.

Date	December 4, 1860
Location	Mimbres River, New Mexico Territory
Result	United States Victory

Belligerents

United States

Apache

Commanders and leaders

James Henry Tevis

Mangas Coloradas

Strength

30 militia

unknown

Casualties and losses

unknown

4 killed

Civilian Casualties: 13 captured

Apache Wars

Jicarilla War: Point of Rocks; Wagon Mound; Bell's Fight; Cieneguilla; Ojo Caliente Canyon

Texas–Indian wars: Diablo Mountains; Antelope Hills Expedition; Little Robe Creek; 1st Adobe Walls

Chiricahua Wars: Cooke's Spring; Bonneville Expedition; Madera Canyon; Mimbres River; Bascom Affair; Tubac; Cookes Canyon; Florida Mountains; Gallinas Mountains; Placito; Pinos Altos; 1st Dragoon Springs; 2nd Dragoon Springs; Apache Pass; Big Bug; Mowry; Mount Gray; Doubtful Canyon; Fort Buchanan

Black Hawk's War: Pipe Spring

Yavapai War: Camp Grant; Wickenburg; Burro Canyon; Tonto Basin; Salt River Canyon; Turret Peak; Sunset Pass

Buffalo Hunters' War: Yellow House Canyon

Victorio's War: Battle of Ojo Caliente(1879); Las Animas Canyon; Hembrillo Basin; Alma; Fort Tularosa; Battle of Tres Castillos; Carrizo Canyon

Geronimo's War: Cibecue Creek; Fort Apache; McMillenville; Big Dry Wash; Lordsburg Road; Devil's Creek; Little Dry Creek; Nacori Chico; Bear Valley; Pinito Mountains

Post 1887 period: Kelvin Grade 1889; Cherry Creek 1890; Guadalupe Canyon 1896

The Battle of the Mimbres River was a surprise attack launched by a troop of American militia against an encampment of Chiricahua Apaches along the western shore of the Mimbres River.

On December 4, 1860, a force of thirty armed miners led by James Henry Tevis attacked at sunrise, claiming it was retaliation for stolen livestock. The surprised Apaches, led by Mangas Coloradas, were quickly defeated in a short close quarters action. Four warriors were killed, and an unknown number were wounded. The settlers' casualties are unknown, if any at all. Thirteen women and children were captured and several warriors fled, leaving their families behind. Mangas Coloradas survived. The Americans recovered some of their livestock.^[1]

References

^ Edwin Russell Sweeney, Mangas Coloradas, chief of the Chiricahua Apaches, University of Oklahoma Press, 1998 pp. 395-397

Cochise, Ciyé "The First Hundred Years of Nino Cochise" New York: Pyramid Books 1972
Lavender, David. The Rockies. Revised Edition. N.Y.: Harper & Row, 1975.
Limerick, Patricia Nelson. The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West. N.Y.: W.W. Norton, 1987.
Thrapp, Dan L. (1979). The Conquest of Apacheria. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-1286-7.
Williams, Albert N. Rocky Mountain Country. N.Y.: Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1950.